"So they have been fired!" Mr. Wolston exclaimed.
"Fired?" M. Zermatt repeated.
"Yes—both of them," Jack replied.
"But by whom?"
"By whom?" Ernest answered. "Why, by the thunder itself."
"The thunder?" M. Zermatt repeated.
"Not a doubt of it, papa. That last thunderbolt which we heard yesterday fell upon the hill. The hangar caught fire, and when the flames reached the two guns, the two charges exploded, one after the other."
This was the obvious explanation, in view of the burnt ruins which strewed the ground. But what anxious hours the good people at Rock Castle had spent during that interminable night of storm!
"Nice sort of thunder, turning gunner!" Jack exclaimed. "Jupiter Tonans is meddling with what is no concern of his!"
The cannon were reloaded, and the longboat left Shark's Island, where the hangar must be rebuilt as soon as the weather permitted.